Hedge Fund Manager among the World’s Youngest Billionaires

Hedge fund manager John Arnold, 36, made the list of Forbes Magazine’s youngest billionaires, with a net worth of $4 billion. Surprisingly, that only put him at number 212 on a list of 937 billionaires worldwide.

Arnold started as an oil trader for Enron in the 1990s. When Enron collapsed, he founded Centaurus Advisors, LLC, a Houston-based hedge fund that specializes in trading energy products. His employees include several big-name energy traders including ex-Enron CEO Greg Whalley, as well as Bill Perkins, Jeffrey Welch, and Conrad Goerl, previously of MotherRock.

But the real path to a billion dollar earnings still appears to be technology. The newest, youngest billionaire is one of the trio who launched Facebook, 26-year-old Dustin Moskovitz, who is 8 days younger than the more well-known founder and his Harvard roommate, Mark Zuckerberg. Moskovitz was Facebook’s first chief technology officer but left in 2008 to start Asana, a software company that enables small companies to collaborate better.

Technology has long been a path to early riches, notes Forbes. Bill Gates made the list in 1986 at age 30; Michael Dell, still one of the youngest billionaires, made the list at 26. The co-founders of both Yahoo! And Google are on the list as well.

What about you? Do you think having a job at a hedge fund is still a viable way to make a fortune before 40? Especially in the current market and regulatory climate? Add your comments below.